Markus Nutivaara’s hockey career has been full of impressive leaps in his game. At 16, he was playing for a third-level junior team in Finland. But by 20, he was helping Liiga team Karpat to a league title. And last year, at age 22, the player affectionately called “Nuuti” made the Blue Jackets roster out of training camp.

Nutivaara’s rookie season was positive. John Tortorella saw that the player fit the mold he was creating for his defense — a group of mobile, offensively minded players, and through 66 regular-season games, the young Finn had two goals and five assists before putting up a 1-1-2 stat line in two playoff games against the Penguins.

But as the season concluded, it was revealed that Nutivaara had battled a hip injury for a significant part of the season. Surgery was to follow, and so the question was, when training camp rolled around, could a fully healthy Nutivaara return to form, let alone take one more step in his...

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